1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing technology for carrying out printing of images by means of ejecting ink onto a printing medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, printers that eject ink from the nozzles of a print head have become widely used as output devices for computers. In printers of this kind, by using quality-enhancing ink in order to improve quality of printed material as taught, for example, in Unexamined Patent Application 2002-144551, the aim is to give high quality to printed output by enhancing coloration, water resistance, and light resistance, and by controlling gloss irregularities. Since quality-enhancing ink of this kind is substantially transparent, during generation of dot data representing transparent dot formation status on each pixels, there exists a strong need to shorten the time required by the data generation process, rather than for accuracy of data.
However, to date, there has yet to be considered an arrangement for a processing method devised with a view to shortening the time required by the dot data generation process for these transparent dots.